2002 Mr. Olympia - Prejudging (DVD) A completely separate tape for the Prejudging - with all of the comparisons. See the top men side by side. Sadly this was the last Mr Olympia appearance by the great Flex Wheeler. BUY IT NOW

1) Ronnie looked the exact same as he did last year, (for better or worse) except maybe for a TINY bit of better conditioning. He won because he's Ronnie, but he is also AMAZING!!

2) Kevin shocked the crap out of me. From all the talk, including talk from Shawn himself, I had written Kevin off. He was ON, his legs were back (almost), and he had the best posing routine by FAR. He should have won. He has Ronnie beat in most areas, except for bis, and back.

3) Chris was Chris. His conditioning was better than last year, and he looks phenomenal, but he doesn't have the WOW factor that Ronnie and Kevin do. Chris was very hard on himself in the interview after the show, and once again said that he looked better in the room before the show (he said this last year and blamed it on pancakes).

4) Dexter? Dexter is the man. Dexter does not have a single flaw, IMO, but is just not big enough to take the O. Dexter got a wonderful placing for him, though I wish he could place higher - for the sport.

5) Gunter. I can not imagine that there was a single person IN THE WORLD who was watching and not smiling. Gunter's smile should be bottled, and built into a warhead. Drop THAT on Iraq and the whole place would be too dam happy to cause any trouble. For that matter, drop it on the world. Gunter is being groomed for Mr. O, which I said last year and still maintain, having been proved correct last night. He credits Chad and Charles, and he's probably right. Every pose in the posedown went to Gunter, IMO, and in the crowd's opinion as well. Gunter can take Ronnie if he uses his height to advantage which means packing on enough muscle, but he is clearly doing that. His conditioning and shape were the best ever on him.

6) Lee was right on. He looked as good as he could, I think, except possibly in the upper quads, where I think I may have seen better separation on him earlier this year. But he is amazing. He deserved 6th. He could not have placed any higher without bone implants to get taller. Seriously. The top 5 had him beat fair and square, but Lee was KILLER! Think of who he took out.

7) Flex did not deserve anything better than 7, in my opinion, and 7 may have been generous. He was small, and lacked definition in his back. He looked awesome, true, but he was outclassed. I can not say whether or not he was natural, but I will not be surprised at all to find out he passed his voluntary drug test. He could have cleaned up at any natural comp though. Flex did look happy to be out there, and he did look at peace. So in that sense Flex did win. Anybody who says he deserved better than 7 needs to look at the top 6 and stop thinking with your heart.

8) Ruhl - DER FREAK!!!! For real. This guy is not human. He get's his placings based on freak factor alone. How Atwood ever outfreaked him is beyond me. He was well-conditioned, but his posing lacks polish and his symmetry is, well, not. But WHAT A FREAK!!!!!! I love Ruhl. Always will.

9) Burke - In Flex, Shawn said Orville has thick skin. Ya Think?! ? Either that or he needs to take some serious diuretic. That man is a freaking continent and I think he could go toe to toe with Ronnie (though he needs some arms, and his lats, as wide as they are, need to be lower), but he can't get ripped. I would want him with me in a bar fight though. Always happy, Burke is a cool guy. But 9 may have been generous.

10) DJ. DJ, DJ, DJ, DJ. I was heartbroken. Seeing as how Dennis is the only pro up there with whom I have interacted, I was obviously heavily pulling for him. You should have seen his face. He got top ten, and was on top of the world. Then he got 10 and he fell hard. I will say that he may have looked a bit soft and flat, based on what I had been envisioning. But I love the guy so dam much it killed me to see him take ten after Shawn gave him 3 (which I'm sure he read). DJ - you will take this thing one day - I know it! Just focus on next year bro!

Other guys:

Farah did not belong there. He was small, and awkward, and not well conditioned (IMO)
Thorvildsen needs to read up on pre-contest diet as well. Happy guy, but you need more than glutes (and a backflip) to impress on this stage. He will not ever crack the top 10.
Don Younglbood - nice to see him up there, but never had a chance. Next to these other guys I could ot find his pecs!
Badell - will do damage in the next 5 years? I think he has potential.

Paco - what a freak. Needs a plastic surgeon in a big way. He has a VERY bad chest, and outclasses himself with his legs. Conditioning was freakish, and pics do not do his legs justice though. Amazing quads.
Kamali - I loved his routine!! Loved it! I liked Kevin's better, but his was quite good. He deserved to be out of the top ten though. Small arms, no calves, and weird delts.
Titus. Who?

ET - Those triceps! OMG. He looked amazing though. Truly impressive. Spot on conditioning, excellent symmetry and size. Just those triceps. Mad Maz said they make his legs look small! LOL! I don't know if it's synthol or not, but he will not place higher until he shrinks those dogs!
Darrem Charles - I had tears in my eyes. I can not imagine what he went through to compete last night. His conditioning was on too, which I was shocked at. The stress and the temptation to give up must have been enormous. His posing was inspirational, and I thought he should have been top 10 - maybe instead of Burke?
Horvath - nothing to say. Looked ok. Not Olympia material.

Chick - I WAS IMPRESSED! He had the best conditioning he's ever managed, I think. He looked amazing. I would not be surpised to see him at 12 or 13. I was very happy for him.
Oh yeah. Atwood. Blocky and unattractive physique. Monster size, good conditioning, but not Mother Nature's finest genetic work. He will not ever win a show like the O. He
just looks wrong.

Nasser. Nasser looks like a big square! He's frightening, really. I like him. I don't know why he chose oil, but his was the most obvious out there, Couldn't flex a rear delt if his life depended on it. It just hung there. But he's such a great guy! I wish he'd take some time to regroup.

I can not believe I forgot Haidar!! I love that guy!! I couldn't find anything wrong with him. He was ripped, proportioned, and looked AWESOME! This guy is amazing. He may have cracked top ten if the judges could have made up their minds. He was top 15 easy. Can you say ABSSSSS?

1) Kevin Levrone - excellent structure, great conditioning, very aesthetic.
2) Gunter - biggest dude on stage, well conditioned, entertaining.
3) Coleman - boatloads of mass, conditioning ok.
4) Jackson - ripped to shreds, full muscle bellies.
5) Cormier - not too thick in the upper body, but all around, he's one of the best.
6) Priest - improved his hams, thick, structure not the best.
7) DJ - looked great I thought.
8) Haider - ditto.
9) Titus - best he's ever looked as a pro. Gut, although quite smaller, still there, but improved a lot since Dallas.
10) Atwood - arms really throw off symmetry, delts look weird, but he's got a great future.
11) Charles- great conditioning, legs underdeveloped, best posing routine of the night.
12) Ruhl - ugly, but HUGE!
13) Groulx - awesome conditioning and as thick a brick. I don't know what the judges were thinking.
14) Chick - here's where I disagree with the judges. Although Bob was on another planet the last few months before the O (he predicted top 6 and that he'd beat Lee and Levrone) he looked good. Improved the conditioning a little and on the whole - not a bad physique. Ugly posing trunks though. Oh and he called me a fool for saying he wouldn't get top 6, who is the fool now Bob? I told you that you wouldn't get past a lot of the established pros, will you apologize? Whatever.
15) Kamali - OH HOW SWEET IT IS. Who is the BTJA now fool? Arms and legs look like they shrunk. Conditioning not as good as last year. Muscles looked flat. Entertaining posing routine, however, he still refuses to his any shots. Hey, a big mouth will get you a good placing your rookie year, but eventually, you need to bodybuild son. He who laughs last, laughs loudest. That being said, I do think that he should have placed however.
16-25) and so on....

My analysis on the Mr. O Competitors.

1) Coleman - cavernous gut, small bi's, repulsive linea alba space.
2) Levrone - no flaws, amazing traps, delts, superb pre-contest transformation, as I had predicted levrone would come in great shape but would be taunted by Coleman (with a loss to Coleman) but Levrone's physique was far superior to Coleman's.
3) Cormier - nice bulgy bi's, impressive waistline, no surprises here
4) Dexter - predicted a top 6 but didn't think the judges would reward him, finally got his dues
5) Gunter - maybe he'll do T4. Solid improvements, beat Coleman easily, notice those pipes for veins on his bi's
6) Priest - good form and vascularity, not as full as in his last show
7) Wheeler - perfect waistline, good 7 pack, anybody notice his left tricep looks funny on the front double bi pose ?
8) Ruhl - are those delts for real ? He needs to get his gut reduced too, his abs look really weird, no triceps.
9) Burke - almost identical gut to Coleman with the same linea alba problem, huge lats and pecs, wonder how strong he is.
10) Dennis James - Fire Milos and get Gunter's new coaches pronto, DJ had Mr. "O" potential but he seems to have hit a plateau the past 2 or 3 years.
11) Titus - better than expected, he had the consolation of knowing he beat Kamali
12) Atwood - blocky, small arms compared to his frame.
13) Haider - sculpted abs, perfect balance, ideal physique for mainstream men, deserved top 7
14) Ernie Taylor - hmm
15) Sonbaty - as predicted he would lose badly again, he should quit now and do infomercials like Haney and open a gym.
16) Darrem - best bicep peak
17) Kamali - 2nd to 4th? Lock this guy inside a gym and punish him with biceps and tricep routine for the next year till he can back up his puerile predictions
18) Chicherillo - what happened to him!
19) Farah - due to his operations, his abs look weird, has space to improve
20) Bautista - he should call Coleman and get tips on getting rid of the gyno
21) Special mention Jaroslav Horvath - he looked better than the 23rd he got

Quick analysis of the Mr. Olympia top 10 and some others things,

1. Ronnie. He deserved to win the show. His back looks freakier than ever and he was in great shape but flat and lighter or not as freaky as his past Olympia victories. His biceps looks smaller, no calves, a little gut and a bit of gyno.

2. Kevin. He shut up a lot of haters. Maybe 2 or 3 guys (including myself) put him as a runner up in their predictions for the Olympia on the Getbig board. Kevin was in great condition, hard and full. He is a great poser and had great attitude (especially on the pose-down) but his legs are still light for his upper body. A little bit more dedication and he get it.

3. Chris. He looked good but not very good. A very complete guy, but he hold water and look smooth. Chris does not deserve to be in the top 3 at this year Oolympia. I gave him fifth.

4. Dexter. Another complete guy! Symmetrical, hard and full. But there is no way in the world that he deserve to place in the top 4 at the Olympia level. He lacks the mass to stand side by side with Ronnie, Kevin, Gunter and others. I give him sixth place.

5. Gunter. This big gentleman really impressed me. Gunter improved his overall look, especially his upper body mass and width. The crowd loved him and they showed it with two standing ovations. He has everything to be a great Mr. Olympia! The body still needs to improve some things, as he is tall and big, and in my opinion, the most important characteristic, is the personality, charisma and a big smile. He deserved to be in third place, period.

6. Lee. This little monster looked great. Awesome arms and legs, his quads and hamstrings need to be more defined but overall in great shape. I put him fourth.

7. Flex. He looked natural. Great symmetry and lines, but smaller and not hard. He competed naturally and placed 7th at the Mr. Olympia. What am I going to say? Just "wow".

8. Markus. An awesome freak, good shape, not so hard and need to get the oil out from his delts and biceps. In my opinion, that's why Flex placed ahead of Markus.

9. Orville, he looked freaky, awesome back and shoulder to waist ratio. His gut is there and his arms and calves are stuffed.

10. Dennis is big and full. He's not in top shape, but he deserves to be in the top 10.
He was overlooked, guys.

Others include Claude Groulx, he was dry and really improve his body mass.
Ahmad Haidar, a beautiful body , superb shape, lines and very complete.
Craig Titus, he was full, but a little bit too heavy.

Disappointed in what they looked like include Nasser El Sonbaty, out of the top 10. I feel very bad for Nasser because he is a great guy and he loves this sport. I don't know why he put oil into his delts because he has one of the most massive delts I ever saw. Overall, he shows a good size (his strength). He need a full year off to recuperate and rebuild his body.

Now to the next Dorian in a couple of years, Art Atwood, who has good size, great conditioning especially on his legs. But apart from that, nothing special. His arms are little in comparison to upper body and a wide waist.

Bad ass or was kicked in the ass? King Kamali, out of the top 15. He looked small, smooth and out of shape. This guy make the top 10 at 2001 Olympia and still I don't know how he make it. Vince Taylor or Markus Ruhl deserved that place in 2001. "I want to kick Shawn Ray ass all over the Olympia stage" , "I don't expect less than 2-4 at the Olympia" are some of the stupid things he sasy before the Big O and now what he is going to say nothing. Kamali needs to learn respect, and just shut up and train.

Overall, the Mr. Olympia was a great show, the judges did a good job, but still needs to improve!

I tell what, this night proved that bodybuilding is really unpredictable. The PPV showed only the evening routines and the finals but it was definitely worth it.

Orville Burke - HUGE! Big f*cking delts and monster back with huge traps. His problem is that he is wide in a weird way. 260 pounds. His gut is the worst out of everyone. Still, he got tenth place.

Dexter Jackson - Full arms and everything. Shredded to the bone. Was around 220-230. 4th is a little high in my mind. How he said thank you to the crowd with a sincere expression shows how much he appreciates this placing was extremely touching.

Admad Haidar - Excellent symmetry with great legs and abs. Arms can be a little bigger though. Good posing music. Didn't make the cut.(top ten)

King - Smooth and really small arms. Posing took the longest and sort of entertaining. Guess being too cocky took him right out the top ten. 250

Darrem Charles - Beatiful lines and good symmetry. Very calm and did a 3 minute beginning music routine dedicated to his mother. Nice and dry. Didn't make the cut.

Ronnie Coleman - Mr. O 5 times. He deserves this placing by showing up with great symmetry and hardness. Dropped 5 pounds. Gut got smaller but still visible. 259

Real Deal - Nice symmetry. Great lines. He looked better than last year though maybe a little flat. Got 3rd and deserved it. 256

Flex - Well, well, flex looked great. He is still the sultan of symmetry. Not quite as striated but still great. Got 7th. You can see he is disappointed but still with a smile. Nice work flex. 220

Lee - Freak of arms. Full and round and the biggest forearms of all. His victory pose is crazy. He was not as good as he was in SF, but still good enough get 6th and he deserves this. 200

DJames - Bald and calm. A little smooth but waist looks better. He was not as conditioned as last year so he ended up 9th. DJ is disappointed but the way the judging was tonight, he was somewhat relieved. 250

Nasser - Sorry Nasser but worst ever. The skin is really bad and his physique is falling apart. The symmetry is terrible compared to 97 or even 99. Like people predicted, he was out of top ten. 280

Kevin - He got his shit together and believe me, he was huge. Great symmetry and legs improved. The arms are HUGE. Runner up to Ronnie and seems to enjoyed the whole event. Posed to Creed music. 240?

Bob - Tall and big. Arms are nice and legs are alright. 250 pounds but didn't make the cut.

Markus - HUGE! Huge arms and unreal most muscular pose that dwarfed a lot of people. The Ruhl's gut got a little tighter and place 8th. 270-275

ET - GREAT symmetry!! He surprised me with no gut at all. Triceps are still bad and shows with the double Biceps pose. 248? Need more size.

Craig - No pecs and condition far away from last year's. Abs are not visible, poor physique. 245

Art - BIG as hell. Quads are huge and shredded. This man looked great! DIDn't crack the top ten. 250

Mr. Badell - Big arms but color is bad. Not a chance.

Francisco - Looked like shit but with big and shredded bodyparts. Looks complete different with a Buzz hair cut. He still has man breasts. Bad color. Not a chance.

Claude Groulx - Not a pleasing physique this time. He is 39. Didn't make it.

G. Farah - Wacky routine that had a lot of energy. His physique looks bad.

Don - Overwhelmed by the other athletes. Still, he is 48 and did a nice routine.

Jaroslav Horvath - Another surprise. Excellent symmetry and condition. He looks big but only is 191. Arms are small but great midsection. Nice start. didn't make it.

Tommi - Small and torn pec is very visible. He tried but didn't make it.

Gunter - Holy smokes!!!! This guy looks better than Ronnie when he came out! Big and shredded and excellent color. Very complete and the judges finally fixed their glasses. Got 5th place. He should have placed higher, that's how good he looked. Stole the show with the crowd going nuts. Crowd was about to riot when he got 5th, they want Gunter as the Mr. O!! Gunter was a complete gentleman through the whole thing and almost broke down crying but saved it for backstage. When Ron and Kev was wait for the final announcement, the crowd was yelling for GUNTER!!

When they set up all the competitors in a line and called out the top ten, you can clearly see the disappointment on athletes' faces. Kamali couldn't believe it and art sighed. I believe Art should have crack the top ten. It is sad to see the expression on their faces like all year's work for nothing!? Nasser was pissed like shit. It looked like he was going to kill Joe for a second.

The pose down was good as everyone chased Ron in the beginning and then Kevin was like, chase me, but nobody did. The best pose was Lee doing the double bicep pose and Gunter went right behind Lee and did the same thing. Gunter dwarfed Lee. Ronnie was trying to push Gunter off the stage. Gunter looked wider than Ronnie though but Ronnie's condition cannot be denied. If there were two Olmypia's, Gunter would be the second one. The fans encouragement, in my mind meant more than the Mr. O to Gunter. He got the mike and thanked everyone before he left. I think Chris was disappointed because he felt that he beat Kevin. Triple H and Mike Matarazzo and John Amato did a great job hosting the show which was really worth watching. The emotion level was very high and the judging was so tough this year.

Everyone who competed is a winner in my mind. Good luck to all the athletes and I hope this Olympia is a wake call to all the Youngbloods that thought making the top ten is easy.

Finally the Atwood talk can rest. No 2nd place, no next Dorian. The judges saw him for what he is, a freak with small arms. Kevin surprised the hell out of me. How he does it, I'll never know. The man is awesome. Chick should have finished 10th or 11th. Titus FINALLY beats Kamali. Now they can both shut up. What in the world happened to Kamali? I thought he was supposed to come in at 260 shredded? He looked like Farah. Good job to Gunter, he held his own in the top 5. Stole the show. Flex Wheeler looked way too small. I wish Vince Taylor was there instead of Don Youngblood. Dexter Jackson finally got the respect he deserves. Ronnie looked unbeatable. Paco needs a bra. Nasser looked awful, whats up with those rear delts? Retire! Triple H is the man.
Mattarazzo was very, very good too on pay-per-view.

My notes on the Olympia and more. If Kamalia was smart, he would have changed his posing routine when he realized (if he did) that he wasn't very sharp. Standing with his back to the judges like he had a christmas tree and shredded glutes (NOT!) for an entire minute was very dumb. Hey, judges! Look how out of shape I am! Unfortunately, the judges did not even score Kamali in the posing round because he came out of 15th place in the first two rounds.

Flex looked natural.

Kevin goes to show you that INTENSITY not volume of training or how long you train with mediocre intensity gets the job done! No sarcastic drug comments, please. Haidar is good but compared to the other guys he looked a tad blocky.

Atwood needs to shave off 20 pounds -- even if it's muscle. More is not better with his physique.

Gunter Schlierkamp should have won. Yes the crowd chanted his name, gave him a standing ovation. He made a small speech because the crowd would not sit down or stop chanting his name. He said that this (the ovation) meant more to him than winning did and he thanked the crowd. People started leaving the auditorium in protest when they knew that Ronnie was going to win. It was embarrassing and I felt bad for Ronnie - they drove the escalade on stage and some idiot threw the keys to Ronnie, but he missed and they fell on stage and Ronnie had to go pick them up. He definitely deserved top three - but Kevin was like a rock and Gunter was just unbelievable. What a change in his physique!!!

Titus did not deserve 11th - his gut was just as big as ever, but his party was off the hook as usual. Chris Cormier's party at Club RA with Dorian was hot - place was packed - Chris got on stage there and did a posing routine - cool - best drinks in vegas!!

Kelly Ryan deserved to win - her routine was hot and her physique was on top. This was her year to win that show. She will always be a pro in my book no matter what goes on in her personal life.

The press conference was typical Craig - he used it as a forum to promote himself and kiss ass as usual. Kamali had an awesome routine - I felt he should have placed higher. Ruhl was freaky big as usual. Flex was small but he still has the prettiest physique in the industry. Vickie Gates placed third - gave an emotional speech at the press conference about her mom having just died. Darrem Charles, sitting next to Ronnie, almost started to cry (because of his mom being just shot & killed in Brooklyn), Ronnie did start crying about Vickie's mom (tears silently rolled down one of his cheeks)

Lenda & Iris duked it out for first place and it was very close. Iris was like a rock - glute striations etc, but Lenda was as hard and perfect symmetry as always.

Quincy Taylor - up & coming huge man - 6'5" will go onstage at over 300 pounds - a very big boy - keep your eye on him for the future. All in all, an interesting show - with some interesting results - not too pleasing to the crowd though!!

Here's how I would have placed everyone.

1) Kevin Levrone -- Looked awesome, should have won the show, but I knew they wouldn't give it to him... a tragedy! 2) Dexter Jackson -- Now there's aesthetics! 3) Gunter Schlierkamp -- Mr. Charisma, much improved, he has structural flaws but made up for it with conditioning, knowing how to work the audience and class. Like it or not guys women "swoon" over this guy… the pr*ck! 4) Ronnie Coleman - Fourth would have been a real gift IMHO, I know that's not going to be a popular statement with the mass fans but it is non-the-less MY opinion. Mass on Mass but riding on an old reputation. Drooping muscles. 5) Lee Priest -- Looked great! 6) Chris Cormier -- great genetics, small waist, always looks bored and like he'd rather be somewhere else and it comes through on-stage.
7) Ahmad Haider -- Looked Awesome, now there's a great physique! 8) Orville Burke -- Looked great. 9) Dennis James -- Not his best but still looked great. 10/11) Bob Cicherillo -- okay haters go ahead start your attacks. Bob has some of the greatest aesthetics on stage. Up-close he's fat-free so I don't understand why he doesn't show more striation. He has charisma and stage presence but didn't allow it to come through. Still much improved and looked great. 11/10) Art Atwood - Okay probably one of the freakiest and best conditioned guys in the show. Still has a strange flow to him could have flip-flopped with Chick. 12) Flex Wheeler -- Sad to see Flex so off-the target. Looked great from the front. When he turned around his calves looked deformed. Still the great lines. 13) Darrem Charles -- Good conditioning, missing half a body. Great presentation.
14) George Farah -- George did himself proud came in "on", was NOT outclassed like many. said he would be. He had a blast and was happy just to be on-stage. Good job George. 15) Claude Groulx -- Why doesn't anyone like this guy. He looked great! 16) Tommi Thorvildsen -- Looked good! 17) Jaroslav Horvath -- Looked good! 18) Gustavo Badell -- Looked good! 19) Craig Titus -- his real placing is a mystery to me. If Craig looked like he did when he won the USA, he'd be top six material, maybe top three. The quest for mass has ruined a great physique.
20) King Kamali -- off and missing bodyparts. THE most entertaining routine at the show… brought the house down. 21) Ernie Taylor -- would move right into top ten without the Synthol triceps. 22) Francisco 'Paco' Bautista - Freaky conditioning - Synthol overload. 23) Markus Ruhl -- ugliest body on-stage. Sorry Markus nothing personal just not what I consider bodybuilding. 24) Nasser El Sonbaty -- Ditto. 25) Don Youngblood - respect for being there at 47 years old. Too many flaws.

Here is my take on some of the guys we often chat about here that did NOT make the top 10.

Titus ended up looking decent and placed a solid 11th had good size and muscularity. It may be tough for Craig to get much better but ya never know, Craig may use some bad judgment but the man is no quitter. While I am not a fan of some of his actions in the past, the man has a classic physique in top shape and poses quite well. He seemed satisfied on stage in the end and I would love to hear how his party went after the big show.

King- was way off as we all know. Just my 2 cents but I think his bulk up strategy was too much bulk ie fat in the off season. He is young, hungry and resourceful and I expect him to be back with bit more serious , less cocky attitude. I think he should change his posing style to be more bodybuilder and less entertainer.

Chic- the guy is a real veteran and I suspect knows he ws not hard, ripped enough to do damage in this field. Has all the physical tools to move up quickly if he continues on his present track

Nasser- Looked as good or slightly better than expected. Lacked separation thru the front of his torso as well as back, legs were on however. One of the real men of this sport and a class act. Perhaps his time has now passed.

Atwood- Incredible potential and was in decent shape and great condition. Has the frame and basic structure to be a real monster in the near future however.

Youngblood - Not in his masters O shape and it showed in this lineup. For a guy even 4 years older than me he is a major inspiration to us middle agers LOL. Great guy, class act.

Farah - Ol' George is a survivor and he gave it his best. Needs more mass to move up but I like his physique anyway.

Haidar - should have been 9th or 10th. Guy was ripped and freakish muscularity with great lines. I think he was better than Flex at this one.

It was an awesome Olympia and well worth the PPV fee. While I would have it as follows, it would have been tough to judge. 1. Gunter 2. Kevin L. 3. Chris C. 4. Ronnie 5. Dexter 6. Priest.

I just got back from Vegas and for what it is worth, here is my top 12.

1) Coleman- Whatever flaws he might have are far and away overshadowed by his strengths
2) Levrone- I thought he sucked last year but he DEFINITELY made a believer out of me this year.

After the top two I could understand any of my 2-9 being shuffled in any way.

3) Gunter- I have never seen any major flaws with him and I wonder where all his internet haters are now.
4) Ruhl- Just too much size and decent shape to overlook.
5) Priest- Can hang and charisma does count. Ask Arnold.
6) Burke- calves looked better this year. A freak.
7) Jackson- Good shape and condition
8) Grouxl- Read some posts before I made these and it is nice to know that there are people on here who can overlook a name and rate someones physique for what it is.
9) James- Love the guy but never seems to look like the mass monster you think he is when viewing off season photos.
10) Cormier- Great potential, but never seems to achieve great condition to me.
11) Titus- What improvement.
12) Atwood- Didn't grab my attention like I hoped he would, but was solid.

Honorable mentions because of who they are:

*) Nasser- Any true fan of the sport has to like the guy because of his dedication and love for the sport.
*) Kamali- Seemed smaller and not in the same shape as last year. Don't know what was up.
*) Flex- Claimed to be natural and I admire him if that is his conviction but shouldn't try and compete with these guys. His placing was a gift.

Hey everyone. I had seats at the Olympia finals that were 5 rows back from center stage. I saw it all. Don't let pictures fool you. The biggest upset was Art Atwood not making it in the top ten, he was one of the most conditioned and one of the biggest guys there. Ronnie Coleman looked better 3 weeks out then he did at the Olympia. Kevin should have won the show, no questions about it. Being right there, and not being biased, this is what i would have placed the guys.

Aabout the Olympia. First: What was it about Gunther this year that ALL OF A SUDDEN got the judges eye? Surely it can't be that he presented a RADICALLY different physique than years past. Therefore, I conclude that the judging IS improving slightly. Guys are getting more of a fair shake. Second question: Who will be the new Mr. O when Ronnie hangs it up or comes in so far off (like 40 pounds overweight) that the judges know that the fans will riot and kill the judges if they hand it to Ronnie? Answer: Kevin Levrone. Why? Cause he now has the most 2nd place finishes ever. I'm not taking anything away from Cutler. but it's honestly too premature to say that we KNOW he will place second again to Ronnie next year because we only have one frame of reference for that (last years results). So. call me blind if you want. but I believe in going with the

Okay, just got back from the Olympia. I agree with most of you that Gunther or Kevin should have won and then I would have Ronnie and Chris, then Lee and Dex. The VIP dinner was corny, as I just ate and left. The Titus Party was okay but I party a lot so maybe I was just expecting too much, I mean I met a lot of cool people but for some reason I expected bodybuilders to party harder, I mean Bruce Patterson was the only bodybuilder that I saw that was having a blast dancing and mingling like there was no tomorrow. I saw Paul DeMayo, and he looked like he was hitting the weights again or maybe he just looks big normally! Aaron Baker looked like he was having fun as well and so did Aaron Maddron! And Ronnie Coleman got there real late and was friendly as well. When I saw him, there was some white girl that was trying to rub up on him but it seemed like Ronnie did not want any part of it (It is funny, but bodybuilders do have groupies). Oh and Craig and Kelly and their friends seem to also be having a god time up in there VIP room on the second floor.

The expo was cool got tons of free stuff, but I don't know if any one noticed this but I was expecting a lot of the fitness chicks to be real hot and was kind of let down, I mean some of them are sexy and cute but for the most part they were not as hot as the mags make them seem, I mean I saw a few better looking girls walking around the expo, and Vegas! especially this little SHORT BRUNNETTE that had this off the hook body and outfit on, some tight jeans and a teeny jean bra! Wow what a cutie but she had a man so I could only look! Also, Alexandra Kobialak (fitness competitor) is also very sexy, pretty face, bomb body! Oh and one more thing even though Kamali got finished! I would have to say his girl was cute! She was fit, and sexy! So Kamali at least gets props for something.

During the awarding of the presentation medals, somebody yelled "HEY JOE [WEIDER], BUY SOME SHOES!!, Dissing his white Rockport style sneakers he wear wearing with his suit.

I was disappointed at Don Youngblood. The biggest show of his life and showed up looking like that? Vince Taylor made a better showing with a sprained ankle. Don didn't have abs even when he flexed. Paco was freaky conditioning wise. Markus Ruhl is hard but man, he got an ugly physique. George Farrah - please. Titus improved 100%. Kamali looked small (but not tight) for some reasons. Dexter and Lee was justified with their placing. They both looked good but giving up too much size. Cormier and Levrone looked good but not good enough to beat Ronnie (he still have a freaky but ugly physique).

I am impressed with Gunter the most. He should have placed 2nd or even win the show. I think that he had bad callout during prejudging and had hard time overcoming it at the final tally in the evening show. The crowd would have gone nuts if Gunter won it. But, he shows that he is a humble and gracious competitor, a rare find in this sport.

Hey all, here's the bodybuilding criteria for judging in a simplified nutshell. Symmetry, size, hardness, balance. left to right, top to bottom. so at the top level we look for glaring weaknesses, and an awesome X silhouette, coupled with a bit of freak and some shred. So that's why I cant see certain people doing so well. If you created a matrix of weightings for each judging criterion, you might want to weight symmetry highest, lets say a scale of 1-10, 10 being best, symmetry=8, then lets say size, is 6 (i.e. 75% as important as symmetry), balance a 4 or 5, freak is a 3 or 4, shred is also a 4.

Then lets deduct points for weaknesses, these need to be in proportion (or normalized) to account for trade offs. Wide Waist is a weakness, gyno is also, color is a minor one, calf implants should be a biggie. Then we start splitting hairs, the judging can be brought down to separate, more specific criteria, such as the overall back can be broken down into bits such as width, thickness, upper, traps, lower bacl. The same can be done for all groups.

What I am getting at is if we all used an established template, we could at least get some idea of what's going on. I know we get the compulsories and comparisons etc, but the comparisons don't do the shorter athlete justice, and we are in a perception sport here, everything is relative, not absolute, that is the basic tenet of the sculptor.

What you see here after the first round of weakness elimination is that DJ is in top spot. Wheeler is out of the running.

The next pass would be to look at conditioning, and the overall score of that depends on what weighting is applied. Its no good having a massive weighting here which means that Andreas Munzer can outscore Yates nbecuase he is so ripped, but it must be recognized.

I think we, as a forum can put together a scoring table, which can do justice to the rankings and placings that we see. The time of uncontrolled, opinionated, semi subjectivism is gone. In the day of big bucks, we need to see more objectiveness (although elimination of subjection is impossible) and we need to get with the age and abandon a judging panel per se. We can still have a panel, but the figures need to be weighted and balanced using a recognized format. If all these are applied, maybe we can see some justice, or at least have guidelines on what these guys can work on to improve their placings.

I'm sick of you gotta add more size, or you gotta get ripped, or this and that..

Notes on the Olympia. 1) Anyone notice the gyno beginning on Ronnie? 2) This is Bodybuilding, not Massbuilding or "the huge guy contest." How can anyone with such a huge stomach (distended abs or whatever you want to call it) and such small calves be considered the best bodybuilder in the world? 3. Lee Priest won the whole thing. 4. Dexter Jackson looked great! 5. Amahd Haidar looked great and got screwed, he should have been 9-10th. 6. No one knows how to pose anymore. And I don't just man the posing round, I mean no one knows how to present their body in the best way. Think about Frank Zane, remember how small his waist appeared? that wasn't because it was so small, it was because he twisted his hips a little! Arnold did it too. It's all a part of posing. 7. Chris Cormier got a gift - he was holding water, a bit smooth and not as massive or well proportioned as in the past.

King was way off, when i saw him i knew no way he is going to place in top 10. I still like him anyway. Ahmad Haidar, what a surprise, in GREAT SHAPE, I am veru surprised that he didn't place better. Nasser still has those weird looking shoulders, everybody was going "oh, what is that?' arounbd me. I took pictures with him and he is great guy, very friendly. Ronnie Coleman is the winner of the show. No one even close to him. Dexter Jackson, I have no idea how he got 4 place? I am not kidding. Lots people where saying what the hell.